In 1953 a six hole course with sand greens was built on a vacant area of RAAF Base Fairbairn by a group of volunteer serving personnel. The 1960s saw the course expand to nine holes with grass greens - the turf coming from the old Royal Canberra Golf Club when it was forced to relocate. At that time the club was known as RAAF Fairbairn Golf Club, with membership and access largely restricted to serving personnel.

In 1998 the name of the Club was changed to the ADF Golf Club and in a sign of the times the Department of Defence made it clear that historical subsidies in the form of things like free electricity and water, cleaning, waste disposal etc. could not continue indefinitely and the club would need to become self-supporting.

This process of transition, which commenced in the late 1990s, led to the registration of 'Fairbairn Golf Club Incorporated' in 2004 and culminated in 2010 when a formal lease (The Defence Licence) was negotiated, giving the club security of tenure for an initial period of seven years in return for annual rent.